Spike driving apparatus



June 23, 1931. G. M. NELL SPIKE DRIVING APPARATUS Filed April 12-, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR V6 4/ /1 e// Y Du A TTORNE Y.

June 23, 1931. G. M. NELL SPIKE DRIVING APPARATUS Filed April 12, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Qas/aye Fig/ 9 A TTORNE-Y.

zflange of the rail.

Patented June 23, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT' orrlcr.

e-UsrA'vE M. NELL, or DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR rro CHICAGO PNEUMATIC TOOL COMPANY, on NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION or NEW JERSEY SPIKE DRIVING APPARATUS Application filed April 12,

-This invention relates generally to the securing of flanged elongate members to supports by means of driven securing members. It has particular application to the spiking of railway rails to the cross members, or ties.

Hand methods in use in railway construction and repair work are slow, require a large gang of laborers and, even with skilled or experienced workers, result in a considerable percentage of poorly driven spikes. Moreover, when driven by .hand the spikes are generally at a greater or less distance from the rail and the last few blows are directed toward bending the head of the s ike toward and upon the flange of the rail. his leaves a space at one side of the spike into which water seeps causing softening and rotting of the wood so that the spikes become loose in a relatively short time. Spikes driven straight in are found to have much greater holding power and leave no spaces where water may gather.

In my improved method, one man with a power tool goes ahead and accurately spots or makes a guide hole in the tie for the spike close to the flange of the rail and at the proper angle so that when the spike is driven straight in the head of the same will have the maximum bearing or engagement on the Another man follows with a second power tool, rests it loosely upon the head of a spike inserted in the pre viously made guide hole and drives it straight home. The punch for making the guide hole is tapered to permit its easy extraction and has limiting stops which engage the tie and not the rail flange. The hammer tool used in the driving operation has a retaining rim to hold the same on the spike but does not contact the rail flange at any time.

The method and the hammer tool are claimed in my copending application Serial No. 493,283, filed November 4-, 1930, which is a division of this application.

One object of the invention is to devise suitable apparatus capable of use with a power tool for carrying out the above method. Another object is to provide a punch having a shank arranged for insertion in the 1929. Serial No. 354,514.

power tool to drive holes of proper depth closely adjacent the rail flange without injury to the latter. Other objects will be apparent from the detailed description which follows.

In order to illustrate the invention and the manner in which it is practiced, reference 1s to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a pictorial illustration of the method as applied to spiking railway rails;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view substantially on the line 22 of Fig. 3 showing the operation of the punch;

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of the parts shown in Fig. 2 with the rail in section;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 illustrating the hammer tool in place on the spike which has been inserted in the guide hole made by the punch in Figs. 2 and 3 Fig. 5 is an enlarged elevational view of the punch;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary View of the point of the punch shown in Fig. 5 after a quarter turn of the same; and

Fig. 7 is an elevational view partly in section of the hammer tool.

Fig. 1 illustrates the application of the method to the spiking of a rail A to cross ties B. Laborer X is operating a percussive power, tool 8, such as a pneumatic hammer drill, which has inserted therein as a working tool a punch 9 for making guide holes for the spikes adjacent the edge of the supporting flange of rail A. After the holes are I made spikes are inserted and a second operator Y follows with a similar percussive power tool 10 which has inserted therein as an operating element a hammer tool 11 which is placed upon the head of spike C and the 1 latter is driven home until its head engages the flange of the rail.

The form of the punch is illustrated in Figs.

5 and 6 and the manner of its use is more clearly seen in Figs. 2 and 3. Punch 9 may (95 be made of round stock as shown and is provided at one end with a polygonal shank 9a for insertion into a percussive tool, such as 8, and, if desired, with a retaining collar 96. The other end of the tool is made to conform L 9 substantially to the shape of a spike. Accordingly'it is slabbed off or cut away to form oppositely directed faces 90 and similarly cut away after a 90 turn to form faces 9d. By preference this portion of the punch is. substantially square in crosssection and the faces thereof are all on a slight taper to per mit easy extraction of the punch. Near the extreme outer end faces 90 have a sharp taper 9c fo'rrninga wedgepoint; The faces 9c'eX- ceed in extent the faces 9d with the result that stop projections are formed at 96. In using the punch these stops are arranged to engage the tie with the result that the greater extent of the faces 90 prevent the punch from contacting and damaging the rail flange.

In operating machine 8 with punch 9 therein one of the'tapered faces 90 is placed directly against the flange of the rail (Fig; 1) with machine 8 held upright. As the point of the r punch penetrates the wood the operator X shifts the tool 8 substantially to the inclination of tool 10 (supported by operator Y') so that the punch drives into the tie B substantially at the angle shown in Fig. 3 until stop shoulders 96 engage the tie (Figs. 2 and 3). No damage can be done to the rail flange since it"is clear from Fig. 3 thatthe extent of the faces 9c'is such as to prevent engagement of the body of the punch with the rail flange.

the rail flange either through the punch or through the hammer tool.

I claim as my invention: a

A punch formed at one end with a shank for insertion into a power operated percussive machine, the portion of the punch remote from said shank being cut away inplanes at right angles to one another to form a penetrating portion substantially square in cross section, the cut away portion "on two opposed sides being of greater eXtent than on the two other sides thereby to provide advance projections for limiting the penetration of said punch.

Signed by me at Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, this 8 day of April, 1929.

V GUSTAVE M. NELL.

Operator X now'fwithdraws the punch, an op eration made easy by thetapering of the faces forming the point. A spike C is dropped into the hole made by punch 9 and then operator Y appliesto the head of the spike the hammer tool 11' (Fig. 7 which has a polygonal shank llaand retaining collar 11?) to enable the same to be mounted in percussive machine-10. Hammer tool 11 is formedwith an enlarged head 110 provided with a socket having a concave impactwall 11d shaped to fit more or lessclosely the head of spike C and has a retaining rim or flange 116 to prevent the accidental slipping of the tool off the spike. Rim 116 is of less vertical extent than the head of'spike C so that as operator Y causes machine 10 to drive spike C home there is no contact between the hammer tool. and the rail flange' v From the above it will be apparent that the herein described apparatus provides for the making of a guide hole fora securing member atexa'ctly the proper position close to the flange to be engaged and at'the right inclination, that the guide hole may be positively limited'to such depth as will insure the maintenance of the desired inclination and the supsince in neither instance can the flow of the percussive motor'be transmitted directly to 

